Our Lady's Office

Apart from reading Lauds of the Day, all the other Hours I've read to-day, for convenience sake while out, and pro pia devotione, from my little pocket edition of Our Lady's Little Office - not from the Baronius Press edition, full as it is of misprints, but from my smaller, well-thumbed and annotated Carmel Books edition of 1997, being a facsimile of a 1914 publication.  This I did apart from anything else because to-day the Office of Our Lady on Saturday is read anyway in the Breviary, and because the Little Office, while being quite as liturgical as the full Office, is shorter, and this comforted me.  (I will soon enough return to the larger volume for 1st Vespers of the 4th Sunday after Pentecost, and therein will pray again the moving Psalms 143 and 144.)

While on the subject of the Breviary, I note an article on the New Liturgical Movement blog, and the very large numbers of comments made, all in earnest discussion of it as it pertains to the laity's use of it and suchlike forms of the Divine Office - all such praying, united in the differing forms of the Prayer of the Church, is excellent and laudable.  While I have declined from reading the Night Office, I still adhere to the Day Hours of the Breviary, and aim at least to read each day's Lessons if not the whole of Matins.   There is something very good about the weekly praying the Psalms - each day of the week, I am pleased to read again the same Psalms at each Hour, and certain verses become as old friends.  On Tuesdays, for example, I read at None Quoniam propter te mortificamur tota die, and am forcibly put in mind of my old friend Peter, now Br Paul Marie of the Cross, who prays the selfsame words and lives them in his godly penitential life devoted to the Lord as a Carmelite Monk in Wyoming.

As I read at Matins of Our Lady, Nos cum Prole pia benedicat Virgo Maria - or, as the Marquess of Bute once rendered it, "Bless us, Mary, Maiden mild; Bless us, Jesu, Mary's Child."

Deo gratias

I have just learnt (see comment on last posting) that Peter, my mate from Bunbury, will enter the novitiate of the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming on Pentecost Sunday, receiving his name in holy religion, and the habit of the Order; to-day begins his preparatory retreat.

I'm sure all and sundry will join with him, his brother monks, his family and friends in storming heaven on his behalf, that he be a persevering and holy religious and, God willing, one day a priest.

Back Safe and Sound

I was tempted to book to stay another night, but decided against it; so, after booking out, I went and heard Mass at Our Lady of the Southern Cross, then had a rather good breakfast at the same local cafe as yesterday - coffee, plus french toast with banana, bacon and maple syrup; a combination which I hadn't had since my trip to Lismore for Bp Jarrett's consecration eight years ago.  Memories...

(Oh, and BTW last night's meal at the wine bar turned out not to be drawn from among various tapas - which are available on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays - but from a fine menu: so I had roasted artichoke and mushroom soup, followed by crispy skin duck confit on brussels sprouts with pancetta and green beans.  I went to bed fairly early, but read until late about the disasters awaiting us with global warming: it's a genre called "climate p__n", you know the word I mean.) 

Leaving Dunsborough, I drove up to Cape Naturaliste lighthouse, in the national park, and took an hour's circuit around the windswept headland, including a peek from the whale lookout (alas, none, though blue, humpback and southern right whales all rest on their migrations in Geographe Bay).  The low colourful vegetation was in flower, with a pronounced scent, and the sand grading to eroded limestone underfoot was unusual to walk on.  Quite pleasant to get some sun, of which I now feel the effects!

By the time I drove away it was lunchtime, so I headed off down many a country road toward Yahava, a local coffee roaster that had been recommended to me; to be honest, having got there, I thought it nice enough but a bit overrated.  Far more to my taste was Knotting Hill vineyard opposite it, where I met some fine people - retired wheatbelt farmers having a tree-change (as they say nowadays) by moving down South and establishing a very pleasant and successful winemaking estate around an artificial lake.  Their wine I found very passable indeed, and bought some, plus a "vineyard platter" for my late lunch.  A walk around the lake did me the world of good, and it was really nice to meet such down-to-earth, goodhearted people - and their very cute pet dogs!

Finally I turned for home, but not without stopping off at Gelorup outside Bunbury, to catch up on my prayers at the Carmel there, and to spare a prayer for Br Peter, late of Bunbury, now with the Carmelite Monks over in the States.  Since I decided to detour to the coalmining town of Collie - very clean and tidy, even with a great big coal train going through the middle of the place when I arrived - I therefore added another 70 km onto the return trip, meaning that the last hour and a half was in darkness.

What have I been listening to in the car as I drive?  Some ABC radio, but mostly some CD's I brought along:

• Music for a Hidden Chapel (Byrd's Marian anthems and polyphonic Propers for Easter and the Assumption, sung by Chanticleer: the wordpainting is stunning, as in the Easter Sequence Victimæ paschali and the former Assumption Introit Gaudeamus omnes, and it was well worth a second listening);
• Sing to God (gadzooks! Taize! - an old gift to me of nice muzak, giving something of the psalms and other Scriptures in easily digestible form);
• Tafelmusik (4 CD's of Telemann, played by Musica Antiqua Köln; this great set came to me free, from an old priest who was retiring - ora pro eo).

It was good to get home at 7.45 pm, unpack, and share a good roast dinner with my mates, who'd thoughtfully organized a proper meal for us all.

And now, to bed.

(Of your charity, prayers, please, for a certain vital intention.)

News from Wyoming

From a correspondent, regarding my mate Pete from Bunbury, who has joined the Carmelite Monks in Wyoming:

Peter is enjoying Carmel very much - sung Mass every day, the silence (believe it or not!), and the prayer times.  He is still joking around a lot though, and frequently bursts into laughter at lunch during the readings of holy texts!  He has taught them "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport" and is now working on "Said Hanrahan". He has also got them all playing cricket.

He asked me to send his fraternal love to several people, including yourself, and to remind you that he is praying for you.

God bless Pete, and also Br Luke, my friend and Cistercian monk, who just sent me a very holy letter!

Wyoming News

Fr Rowe told me, BTW, after returning on Monday from his monthly Mass supply in Bunbury, that latest news there is that Peter, a Bunbury guy who left Australia to join the Carmelite Monks in Wyoming a month and a half ago (see also this post), has now received the habit - on his birthday. Of course, the Carmelite practice is not to give the whole habit at once (as Dominicans do), but to dole out bits and pieces of it over the years between first arrival and the final, solemn vows...

I hope to hear more details via his family in Bunbury in due course - there's no word yet on when he will begin novitiate and receive his religious name, but from all accounts he is prospering and really loving the monastic Carmelite life, faithful to the Traditional Liturgy and asceticism and mysticism of the religious of Carmel.

How Sweet to Die a Carmelite

Of your charity, please pray for Peter (late of Bunbury) who is trying his vocation with the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming (having departed thence just under a month ago). Now, to live a Carmelite is hard - but, as the proverb continues, to die a Carmelite how sweet it is!

For proof of this sentiment, I quote from the annual Auxiliary Newsletter from the Carmel of Launceston, as penned by Mother Stephanie Mary of Divine Providence, the Prioress (which my Mum has just sent me to read):

Sister Mary Monica, who was one of our foundation sisters and had been ill for some time went to God in a very beautiful and peaceful death on March 10th [2008]. We were all with her in prayer as she left this world at the moving words "Go forth Christian soul...". Her last weeks in our infirmary were marked by her peaceful surrender to God and her gratitude for all the sisterly care and love given her over those last weeks. How grateful we are to her for her great contribution to our community of nearly 60 years. Some of you may have known her earlier when she held the office of prioress several times. Please pray for her now. I am confident she is now praying for us all from heaven. Her funeral Mass on March 13th was really lovely and Father Terry Southerwood [Dean of Northern Tasmania] preached a beautiful homily.

I'm not ashamed that this simple yet uplifting account almost moves me to tears. Heaven! Thou shouldst be the only hoped-for sight!

Please pray also for holy perseverance for Sr Elijah Mary of Mount Carmel, OCD, who took her first vows at the Launceston Carmel on the 8th of September (Our Lady's Birthday) last year.

A lovely Carmelite custom, to which I've been privy on occasion, is that at the Easter Vigil, after all renew their baptismal promises, the nuns then renew their vows: I quite clearly recall hearing one of them saying "I, Mother Mary of the Holy Ghost..." and so on.

(The Carmel of the Immaculate Heart in Launceston, Tasmania, was blessed and opened on the 7th of June 1975, some 33 years ago, having relocated from the nearby country town of Longford, where it had originally been founded on the 15th of June 1948, from Adelaide in South Australia: so this is their diamond jubilee year. Sr Mary of the Holy Ghost, one of the foundation sisters, is still alive and active, Deo gratias.)

See ya, Pete

This morning I motored over to the airport to farewell Peter, who is travelling to the U.S. for to join the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming. He had driven up from Bunbury, his home, with his parents, three sisters, and littlest brother, Guy (aged seven), who seemed very sad to see his big brother go. His maternal grandparents were also there; only his other brother, Tom, was unable to come. I was there to represent the Pro., since all of the good people associated with it were of course at Mass! (Fr Rowe and Aaron had gone down to Bunbury and back on Friday to wish Peter well.)

His plane left just after 10am; he was to fly on to Sydney, and then from there to Honolulu, from Honolulu to Denver, from Denver to Cody, WY, and then - by car - to the monastery. (I think he has probably left Australia by now, and is somewhere over the Pacific.) Peter reckoned it would take him 46 hours to get from his family home to the monastery.

So now I have a motive to travel to the States - somewhere, unlike Europe, I have never previously wanted to visit (no disrespect intended): "See ya, Pete. See ya in America some time."

Vale, Petre

I felt rather unwell today, and in fact had to leave work early; a good long sleep made me feel a lot better, and whatever was the matter seems to have passed, thanks be.

It was lucky that I was over whatever had been ailing me by this evening, since this was the last chance for my housemates and I to meet up with Peter, our friend from Bunbury, since Peter, having come up to Perth for a few days, is returning to Bunbury tomorrow, and will leave Australia on the 15th prox., since he's joining the Carmelite Monks in Wyoming.

Peter came round, and we had some fairly hearty soup I concocted (shades of that budae jjigae I had last week!), together with some beer (Unibroue, from Quebec). He recommended that I blog about all this, so here you are, Pete!

I had to drive him over to Fr Rowe's place, since he's staying there overnight so as to be able to get into town very early in the morning to meet a friend, and so we shared a last bit of conversation, a mix of seriousness and joking.

Partly humorously, I suggested that he write up in his cell the text Quoniam propter te mortificamur tota die (Ps 43:22), once he arrives to begin his hidden life of contemplation and penance!

More seriously, I think that the following text of St Paul (Colossians iii, 1-17), a favourite of mine (especially the opening verses, used in the Office at Eastertide), bears much consideration, whether as a monk or indeed as any Christian, seeking to save one's soul:

Brethren:
Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God:
Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.
For you are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with him in glory.
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols.
For which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of unbelief,
In which you also walked some time, when you lived in them.
But now put you also all away: anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth.
Lie not one to another: stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds,
And putting on the new, him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of him that created him.
Where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free. But Christ is all, and in all.
Put ye on therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience:
Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also.
But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection:
And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body: and be ye thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God.
All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Well, this has probably been the last time I shall see Peter; he has very kindly promised to pray for me and all the others here in Perth, and I ask any readers to pray for him, that he persevere in his holy vocation if such be God's will for him.

I would also appreciate prayers at the moment, for I have various things to deal with, and would appreciate spiritual aid.